New edition of the CMS Guide to Anti-Bribery and Corruption Laws published

International

We are delighted to present the sixth edition of the CMS Guide to Anti-Bribery and Corruption Laws, covering the anti-corruption laws in 45 countries, more than ever before.

We include full coverage of the BRIC nations, as well as Asia (China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia), the Middle East (the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman), South America (Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Columbia) and increased coverage in Africa (Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa).

The global anti-corruption landscape is ever evolving and we have seen many significant changes since we published the last edition of the Guide in 2018. Many of the countries in the following pages have updated, strengthened and widened the scope of their anti-corruption laws, including more countries introducing corporate liability for bribery offences and all but six countries now criminalising private sector bribery. In both India and Malaysia, the law has been updated to include a corporate offence (with an adequate procedures/compliance defence). Nine countries now provide for a specific corporate offence of failing to prevent representatives committing bribery on the corporate’s behalf. We have also seen a trend of increasing the level of maximum penalties available for bribery offences, although Switzerland and the Netherlands buck that trend.

As with previous editions, in this Guide we provide answers to the following key questions for each of the 45 countries:

  • What are the offences?
  • Who can be liable and when?
  • What are the penalties?
  • What are the defences?

We hope you find the Guide useful. Contact details of all our key contributors are at the back of this Guide. Please do not hesitate to contact them with any questions you may have.